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OPINION

Care for our common home

I am not Catholic, yet I grew up hearing stories about Saint Francis of Assisi — a rich fellow who walked away from everything, including his clothes, and preached to birds, and beasts whom he addressed as brothers and sisters. Now, we have the first pope to have chosen the name Francis. And this pope has drawn my attention with his broad-minded ideas about human sexuality, the church’s responsibility to the poor, and that caring for creation is a moral responsibility that God imparted to humans

Looking a little deeper into the man whose legacy Pope Francis is shouldering, we see that Francis of Assisi is the prototypical environmentalist. His belief that God’s creation should be praised and cared for with reverent stewardship spawned an 800 year legacy that has witnessed the widespread establishment of Franciscan Orders both religious and secular. The simple yet profound message of Saint Francis, that we should live in relation to, and as a part of, all creation ties these widely divergent groups together. His was a faith founded on the belief that the best way to praise his God was to take care of His creation.

In the Catholic Church, an encyclical is a teaching document, historically written in arcane language, read by a few bishops and placed upon a bookshelf to serve as intellectual feedstock for future theologians. Pope Francis released his encyclical titled “Laudato Si — On Care for our Common Home” in late May. According to Patrick Carolan, executive director of Franciscan Action Network, this document represents a significant departure from previous encyclicals in that the pope’s prose is very approachable, inclusive and explicitly addressed to the “whole human family about our common home.”

In this remarkable document, the pope accepts the scientific consensus regarding human-caused global warming, and points out the grave implications of continuing down our present path. He draws out the interrelationships of an integrated and complex system that includes ecology, social justice, and global inequality. And finally, he makes the moral case for all people of goodwill to address this challenge by moving to sustainable and integral development. You can find this document online at the Vatican website (search for “Laudato Si”).

I believe the pope’s encyclical will be pivotal in our changing attitudes to the climate crisis. It will amplify the groundswell of public concern about our environment, illuminate the unsustainable path that we are following, and solidify our resolve to change our relationship with our earth. In addition to this, because nearly 92 percent of our legislators are Christians and the single largest denomination of these are Catholic, eloquent and direct words by the spiritual leader of a large segment of our elected officials will undoubtedly be influential.

In my work with Citizens Climate Lobby, an organization dedicated to building the political will to deal with climate change, we have noticed a seismic shift in the attitude of our members of Congress. The widespread denial about global warming historically prevalent in our congressional delegation has largely evaporated. Both Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley voted to approve a statement that climate change “is real and not a hoax.” We are now moving on to more fruitful discussions about what the proper response to global warming should be. There are legitimate political differences in the ideology and approach to what we now accept as a problem, and it behooves us to have a serious and thoughtful debate within the political arena about solutions. The problem will not go away by not talking about it.